Wizard Seeker
by FirenIce15
Summary: There is more to magic than just wizardry. Harry is born with the potential to be both a wizard and a seeker. While he is living with the Dursleys, Dante finds him and discovers his potential. He raises Harry as a seeker, how will the wizarding world handle this new and wholy unexpected Harry Potter?
1. Chapter 1

** Wizard Seeker**

Summary: Magic is a bit like Art in that it has many different types, for art there is painting, sculpture, etc. Wizard magic is merely one type of magic; seeker magic is another kind of magic. Wizards and Seekers in the process of hiding from non-magical people have also managed to hide from each other, Harry was born with both wizard magic and the potential to become a seeker (the real power the dark lord knows not). While on a mission for the Huntik Foundation, Dante finds young Harry and learns of both his seeker potential and his not-so-pleasant home life. Dante then decides to take Harry from the Dursleys and train him to be a seeker. How will this new seeker raised Harry fit in within the wizarding world?

Also this story begins years before the Huntik TV series, Dante hasn't met Lok, Sophie, or Zhalia yet, they may or may not appear later on, I haven't decided on that.

Rating: T

Genre: General

Pairings: None as of yet

Legal Disclaimer: I own nothing, Harry Potter and Huntik belong to their respective creators and I am not making any money by writing this

Chapter One

It was a few months after Harry Potter had been born; Lily Potter was shopping in Diagon Alley while her husband James Potter was at work. Lily was not a stay at home mother, she worked as healer at Saint Mungos however she worked the night shift while James worked the day shift as an auror so that one of them would always be available to watch baby Harry (unless there was a major deatheater attack in which case both the ministry and the hospital called all hands on deck and both Potters would be called into work so they would have to leave baby Harry with one of their family friends). It was early in the morning and Lily had a few quick errands she wanted to run before going home to bed.

She went into Madame Malkin's shop. She needed some new robes since hers had been destroyed in a potion's accident and Harry needed new baby clothes too (magical clothing could only be enlarged so many times after all). She looked around at various clothing while carrying baby Harry on her shoulder, ignoring his baby babbling (Harry was at that age where he couldn't talk in words yet, but he could make plenty of noises) so she didn't notice when a jeweled amulet flew off the shelf and into Harry's hand (Madame Malkin was busy with another customer so she didn't notice either).

After Lily had made her selections and been measured for her own robes, it was time to get Harry fitted up. It was then that Lily noticed the amulet in his hand

"No" she said firmly taking hold of it "that doesn't belong to you, put it back" she then took it out of his hands. At which Harry immediately began crying very loudly, Lily put the amulet on a nearby shelf. As soon as Lily released the amulet, it rose up and would have flown back to Harry if Lily hadn't put her hand on it.

"Harry, no, bad" she said sternly

Harry continued to cry reaching for the amulet

"Mrs. Potter, tell you what, if the little tyke likes the necklace so much, I'll sell it to you for a discount, 2 sickles." Madame Malkin offered

Lily looked at Harry who was still trying to get the amulet, and said "Ok, agreed"

Lily then picked the amulet up and put it around Harry's neck. As soon as the amulet was touching him, Harry stopped crying and starting giggling happily. Neither Lily nor Madame Malkin understood why that amulet was so important to Harry; to them it was just a cheap piece of jewelry because they didn't know that there was a titan inside it.

Once that was done, they were able to get Harry measured for his new robes and pay for their order. They never picked up that order however because two days later, Dumbledore informed the Potters and the Longbottoms that one of their children had been prophesied to defeat Voldemort and that they should go into hiding.

_Halloween Night_

Baby Harry watched from his crib as the weird looking guy hit his mommy with some strange green light. Mommy fell down and didn't get up again; Harry thought it was a very odd time for Mommy to decide to take a nap. The weird looking guy then came towards him. For a moment the two looked at each other and then the weird looking guy spoke

"So, you're the boy who is destined to defeat me?" he said "I'm afraid that I can't let that happen, tonight you die."

Harry didn't understand what was going on but his power-bonded titan did.

Perseus emerged from his amulet. The titan had the size and appearance of a large man in light bronze colored armor and wearing a pitch black helmet, he also had a short sword in one hand and in the other he held a reflective mirror-like shield. He had wings on his ankles which gave him the ability to fly or in this case hover a few feet above the floor

Voldemort stopped his advance; he had never seen anything like this before.

"You had best go back where you came from, if you continue to stand in my way, you will die along with the boy." He said

Perseus not only did stayed right where he was, he made a threatening motion with his sword

"Fine, have it your way." Voldemort said and raised his wand "Avada Kedavara"

The moment Voldemort raised his wand, Perseus raised his shield.

When the green curse hit the shield, there was a strange sound and most of the curse bounced back toward Voldemort. Perseus was spent, reflecting the curse had taken all his strength so he returned to his amulet. A very tiny bit of the killing curse did hit Harry but that curse no longer had enough power to kill him, defeating Perseus and Voldemort had taken most of its strength, as a result when it hit Harry, it left him unharmed except for a strange lighting shaped scar on his forehead.

_4 years later_

Harry was in a little crawlspace inside the local playground. He was in there because he was hiding from his cousin Dudley and Dudley's friends. They were playing Dudley's favorite game…Harry Hunting with Harry being an unwilling participant. Harry believed that Dudley was too fat to fit in his chosen hiding place even if the big dummy did think to look in.

"We can't find him Dudley" one of the other boys said

"Keep looking" Dudley ordered "the freak HAS to be here."

"Let's just admit it, he's given us the slip" another boy responded

"…fine" Dudley huffed; this was happening more and more often, Dudley didn't like it. Harry Hunting was no fun when Harry won. "There's plenty of other losers around here to play with. Let's go find one."

Harry's breath caught, on the one hand, he was glad he hadn't been caught on the other; he hated the idea of some other kid being beat up in his place. He had gotten used to being hurt himself; he could handle it but some other kid might not be able to handle what Dudley did to them. Besides they were good normal kids, not freaks like him, they didn't deserve to be treated the way he did.

Quickly Harry got out of his safe spot and followed the other boys, luckily for him none of them happened to look back and see him tailing them.

Eventually the gang noticed a two year old playing in the sandbox, his mother was nowhere to be seen, it was the perfect opportunity. None of them noticed the man in the brown trench coat watching them

Harry couldn't help but wonder why the boy was alone, where was his mother…probably the ladies room.

"Hey, kid" Dudley began "Nice sandcastle" and then he very deliberately stomped on it, which of course destroyed it. Predictably the toddler began to cry

"Boys aren't supposed to cry" one of Dudley's gang said

"Looks we'll have to teach him not to squeal like a girl" another one added

"Stop it!" Harry shouted unable to stop himself

The other boys turned "Well, well, look who decided to come out of hiding" Piers snarled

Dudley added "What did you say, freak?" his tone angry

"I said stop, leave him alone. I'm the one you want." Harry said, he knew the smart thing to do would be to back down but his pride wouldn't let him, not to a bully like Dudley, particularly not when he was standing up for a innocent kid.

"You DON"T tell me what to do!" Dudley yelled, now he was absolutely furious

"Hey Dudley, how about we pound BOTH of them?" Piers suggested

"Good idea, Piers" Dudley said "They BOTH need to be taught a lesson."

Then the boys advanced toward their two victims.

Dante had been moving closer to the kids the whole time and he was just about to step in when Harry grabbed the amulet he always wore around his neck and shouted

"Perseus, help us out!"

Then suddenly a titan emerged in front of him. Dante froze, he had heard of Perseus. According to Greek Mythology, Perseus was the hero who had killed the monster Medusa. The myth was partially right, in reality, Medusa was a titan not a monster and Perseus was also a titan, in fact he was the titan that the ancient Greeks had used to defeat Medusa so they could seal her safely away. Overtime the story had become exaggerated and people had come to believe that Perseus and his bonded seeker were one person instead of titan and seeker, which was to the benefit of seeker community who wanted to stay hidden. Since ancient times both titans, Medusa and Perseus, had been lost to history. How did a small kid end up with a titan that no one had seen in over a thousand years?!

The boys stopped "What is that thing?!" one of them shouted

Dudley was shocked, he knew about the monster. He remembered one time, the freak had done something bad, he no longer remembered what exactly that bad thing was but he remembered his dad had been really pounding the Freak harder than ever before. The freak had begun to cry and then the monster had shown up and attacked his dad! It had only gone away when the freak had called it back. Since then the Dursleys no longer abused Harry physically but they continued to starve him and treat him like a slave. Dudley had thought that the monster would never show up anywhere but the house.

Then Dante recovered and ran over to them

"What's going on here?" he asked

"Mister, that kid summoned the monster, he's a FREAK!" Piers shouted pointing at Harry

"Really?" Dante said and then he raised his hand in the direction of the boys "Simple Mind" and his hand suddenly glowed with a strange red light and the boys stared seemingly hypnotized "you are going to run along home and forget that any of this ever happened." Then he lowered his hand and the glow vanished. The boys meanwhile slowly turned and then they ran back home, including the toddler

"Perseus come back" Harry said and Perseus returned to his amulet…"I only called him because they were bullying that poor kid"  
"I know" Dante said gently "I saw the whole thing, I was just about to intervene myself but you beat me to it…where did you get that amulet?"

"This " Harry said holding it up but he didn't wait for an answer before continuing "I've always had it for as long as I can remember…who are you mister?" suddenly Harry's eyes widened, he'd just asked a question, he wasn't supposed to ask questions, he wasn't going to get to eat tonight.

Dante laughed slightly "True, I haven't introduced myself. My name's Dante, Dante Vale what's yours?"

"Harry Potter…I think" Harry answered

"You think?" Dante repeated, immediately a red flag went up in Dante's head. How could the child not know his own name?

"Well…my teacher calls me Harry Potter but my aunt and uncle call me Freak." Harry said

"Your aunt and uncle, what about your parents?" Dante asked

Harry couldn't believe it, this guy actually sounded like he cared, most other adults he talked to either believed that he was a freak like the Dursleys said or that he was liar and what they called a bad seed but Dante was being nice to him…far nicer than he deserved

"They're dead Sir, they were drunk and got killed in a car crash and dumped me on my poor hardworking relatives." Harry answered it had the sound of something that had been said over and over again, so much that the kid knew it by rote.

"You don't have to call me Sir, just Dante is fine." Dante said, now he was concerned, he began to suspect that the child was not treated very well at home.

"I'd like to have a talk with your aunt and uncle, where do you live?" Dante asked

Harry opened his mouth to tell him but then he remembered he had been told very very firmly to never bring strangers home. The Dursleys had not told him that as a warning to make him be careful around strangers, they just didn't want him to bring any of the weirdoes he tended to attract home, like the man who had once bowed to him while he and his aunt were shopping. "I'm sorry Sir; I'm not supposed to tell strangers that."

Harry was certain that he was in for a beating now, he had told an adult no.

"That's ok, Harry. I understand." Dante said gently "Take care of yourself, kiddo." Then he began to walk away. Harry was tempted to call him back, he was DYING to know how Dante had done that with the glowing light and stuff, but no, he had done enough bad things already, he'd better behave himself for the rest of the day.

Harry decided he had better had back to the house, he couldn't' really call it home. Dante for his part decided to follow Harry and try to get a better feel for the situation before heading in. After all he may just been making a bigger deal out things than it really was…he doubted that though. His instincts told him that Harry was being abused and his instincts were usually right. Dante had plenty of experience in undercover operations so tailing an unsuspecting six year old was no trouble at all for him.

Harry for his part was too busy dreading what was going to happen when he got back to his aunt and uncle's to even think about the possibility that Dante might be following him.

Sure enough when he arrived Petunia and Vernon Dursley were waiting for him.

"Dudley told us what you did Freak!" Vernon said in way of greeting

Meanwhile Dante positioned himself outside the house and whispered "Sense boost" which as its name implied, enhanced all five of the casters senses so he could hear what was going on

"How dare you threaten Dudley?!" Vernon yelled

"He was bullying another kid!" Harry protested despite himself

"And lying to our faces on top of it!" Petunia added "Get in your cupboard and stay there, while Vernon and I decide how to punish you"

Harry didn't reply verbally he just went into the cupboard under the stairs and Petunia locked the door behind him

Once that was over Dudley went to the living room to watch TV while Vernon and Petunia spoke in the kitchen.

"I told you we should have taken the gaudy necklace from him years ago." Vernon said

"We tried, Vernon" Petunia explained "but every time we took it away it just came back, like a bad rash"

Dante wasn't surprised, titans always wanted to be with their seekers, it was not unusual for an amulet to seek out a seeker that the titan wanted to bond with on its own accord.

"I say we send the worthless brat to an orphanage, I am sick of his freakishness!" Vernon declared

"You know we can't do that Vernon, remember the letter?" Petunia said quickly, nervously

"Humph" Vernon said "if the freaks care about the brat so much, THEY should be the ones taking care of him. Now what are we going to do about him?!"

"Well, he's certainly not getting any supper tonight" Petunia began

"Or breakfast either" Vernon added "Furthermore, we don't let him out of his cupboard until Christmas!"

It was the end of May so that meant at least 6 months locked in a cupboard. That was enough for Dante he canceled the sense boost power and headed for the front door.

"Vernon, who will pull the weeds?" Petunia said

"Of course, we'll let him out for that pet" Vernon said "from now on, the freak is to be either, at school, doing chores or in the cupboard, agreed?"

Petunia was in the middle of nodding when Dante rang the doorbell

"Who could that be?" Petunia asked then she got up and went to the door

"May I help you?" Petunia asked

"Yes, my name is Dante Vale. I am here about your nephew, Harry Potter."

Petunia didn't recognize the man and she really didn't want to talk about the freak anymore so she said

"There's no Harry Potter here, I'm afraid you have the wrong address." Then she tried to close the door but Dante put his foot in

"You're lying and not very well I might add, I saw Harry protecting another kid from your enormous whale of a son in the park and I followed him here."

At this Vernon came over and yelled "Stop it! I will not have anybody throwing false accusations around my house! I demand you leave immediately!"

"And if I don't?" Dante asked with a raised eyebrow

"I'll call the police!" he began reaching for the phone to do just that

"Touch ram!" Dante shouted and blast of yellow light shot from his hand, past Petunia and hit the telephone, smashing it to pieces.

"Now are you going to let me in so we can discuss this like civilized human beings or do I have to start blasting more appliances?" Dante asked

"You're one of them, you're a freak!" Petunia exclaimed. She was shocked, she thought all those freaks wore weird robes and cloaks but this guy was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a trench coat, he looked so normal, too normal to be a freak!

"If you want to call it that, I know your nephew is one to." Dante said

"Good, you take the brat; we've had enough of him!" Vernon yelled

"Gladly, Harry is a very special kid and deserves a lot better than the likes of you." Dante snarled then he walked between the Dursleys and to the cupboard door. The door was locked so Dante simply said

"Force Slip" and the door opened

"Dante?!" Harry said in shock when he saw who had opened the door

"Get your things Harry, we're leaving" Dante said

"Where are you taking me?" Harry asked. He was scared his uncle had told him all sorts of stories about how horrible orphanages were. He loved to threaten to send Harry to one; he was scared that Vernon had finally carried out that threat.

"To my home, I've decided to take you on as my apprentice if you like" Dante answered

"Apprentice? What's that?" Harry asked. He'd never heard of being an apprentice before

"I'll explain everything when we get there" Dante said. He was not about to discuss Seekers in front of those scumbags

"You're not going to take me to an orphanage right?" Harry asked

"No, I won't. That's a promise" Dante said

Normally Harry didn't trust adults much but Dante seemed different from other adults, maybe he was trustworthy. Harry decided to give it a try. If worse came to worse he could always run away later, he doubted Dante could run fast enough to catch him

"Okay, I'll go with you." Harry said coming out of the cupboard

"Isn't there anything you want to take with you?" Dante asked

"No, the Dursleys never got me anything." Harry said

Vernon opened his mouth to dispute that but a glare from Dante silenced him

Then the two men left Privet Drive never to return

AN: I couldn't find any 'real' titans that fit what I needed so I created one. Yes I know there is that mirror thing that Wilder uses in season 2 but I didn't think a giant mirror would be able to scare the Dursleys into not abusing Harry too much the way I needed a titan to. In this fic, Perseus is the only reason that Harry didn't wind up dying from the Dursley's abuse, because whenever the abuse got to out of hand. Perseus would sense that his seeker was in danger and come to his defense. We know that some titans can do that. I remember one scene in particular where Sabriel wanted to come out and protect Sophie, cause the mark on her hands was glowing but Sophie couldn't invoke the Titan because she was afraid of losing Sabriel.

Now I am sure the next question will be how Perseus can invoke himself, and no, it is not some special ability unique to him. My understanding of seeker magic (and I may be totally off base on this) is that there is a powerful bond between Titans and Seekers and that bond is part of what gives a Titan strength. A titan needs to borrow some of the Seeker's energy to emerge from their amulet and when that strength runs out, they have to go back. Now Harry is untrained, he doesn't know how to prevent his titan from using his energy whenever he wants which is how Perseus is able to appear whenever Harry needs him on Halloween even though Harry never invoked him.

Also, yes, Harry and Perseus are power-bonded because in the show it seems to Titan's usually power-bond with their seekers when their seekers need them more than ever and for Harry, he needed Perseus more than ever to survive the Dursleys and Voldemort.

Lastly, just in case anyone is curious here's a holotome entry for my made up titan, Perseus.

Perseus

Attack: 3

Defense: 4

Size: Average

Type: Gaia-titan Warrior

Special Abilites: Flight and Reflecting Shield


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Dante took Harry back to his hotel room and said "Ok, now I know you have a lot of questions, ask away."

Harry hesitated, he had always been told not to ask questions but now Dante was telling him to ask questions…he didn't know what he should do.

Seeing the confusion on Harry's face, Dante knelt down and said gently "Harry, I want you to understand that being curious about the world around is only natural…I will never punish you for asking a question."

"You remember that thing you did back in the park, where you made the boys leave?" Harry asked nervously

Dante nodded

"How did you do that?"

"I used a Seeker power called simple mind." Dante said

"Seeker power?" Harry questioned

"Yes, that is what I was talking about when I said that I would be taking you on as my apprentice." Dante began "I am a Seeker and you are one too. That's how you are able to summon Perseus."

Harry's hand drifted involuntarily to the necklace he always wore

"Perseus is a titan, a creature from another world known as Huntik. Titans are mindless by themselves, so they form bonds with strong-willed humans, these humans are Seekers and as Seekers we have some powers of our own. I want to teach how to use and control your gift."

"Really, that's awesome! I'm not a freak, I'm a Seeker" Harry exclaimed

"That's right Harry you are not a freak, the Dursleys are the real freaks." Dante said

Harry cocked his head, now he was confused

"Only a freak would treat any child the way that they treated you and it takes an even bigger freak to do it to a child that they are related to and supposed to be caring for." Dante declared

"…but I'm bad, I didn't die with my parents the way I should have-"Harry started but Dante cut him off

"Don't you ever say that!" he yelled

Harry blinked

"Don't you EVER say that you should be dead ever again under any circumstances, understand?!" Dante shouted

Harry began to tremble "I'm sorry sir I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!"

Perseus feeling his partner's fear emerged from his amulet

Dante raised his hands in an attempt to show Perseus that he was not a threat and he then forced himself to calm down "Harry, I'm sorry I yelled at you, I wasn't angry with you, I am furious with the Dursleys for telling you such a horrible lie."

"That's a lie?" Harry asked

"Absolutely, it is. Harry" Dante knelt down so he was at eye level with Harry "you are a good kid; you don't deserve to die, ok?"

Harry nodded knowing that it was expected of him but not sure he actually believed what Dante was saying.

"Good" Dante said. He knew that it would take more than one conversation to undo the damage that the Dursleys had done but at least the boy was thinking that was a good sign.

"Now, let's get some rest, we have to get up bright and early tomorrow morning." Dante said

"Why, what are we doing tomorrow?" Harry asked before he thought

"Well, first we have to go see a lawyer about me getting custody of you instead of the Dursleys, after that we have to get you some clothes that actually fit you; those look far too big for you."

"…they used to be Dudley's" Harry admitted

Dante had surmised as much but he did not say so out loud.

Rather belatedly Harry said "Perseus, come back" and Perseus returned to his amulet.

Then they did what Dante had said and turned in for the night.

The next morning, Dante woke Harry up at 7:00am

"Harry" Dante said shaking him just a little

"Mmm?" Harry murmured sleepily

"Time to get up" Dante said

Once they had gotten up and brushed their hair and teeth etc. Harry's stomach growled Dante had taken him to dinner at the hotel's restaurant as soon as they had arrived but he had been too nervous and excited to eat very much.

Dante chuckled slightly "the hotel offers a free continental breakfast to all its' guests, we'll head down there and eat before we go" (AN: I'm an American, I've never been to England, though I hope to someday, and have no idea if that kind of thing exists there but since I know very little about England or its' customs so rather than offend people by making things up I am sticking with American ones that I know)

Harry smiled a little at that.

"But first I need to finish packing."

"We're… not coming back here?" Harry asked somewhat nervous, despite Dante's assurances he was not comfortable with asking questions

"Hopefully we won't have to" Dante began "My flight leaves at 6:00 tonight, but depending on how the custody thing goes we may end up having to stay here in London for a little bit but we'll see."

Harry hung his head, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were right; he was nothing but a burden, he should go back to them instead of bothering somebody as nice and good as Dante.

Dante guessing what direction Harry's thoughts were headed in knelt down so he was at eye level with Harry. "Harry, listen to me, you are not a burden, and you are not a freak. You are a good kid who has been badly mistreated and I want to change that, if that means staying in London longer than I originally intended than I'm fine with that, you ARE worth it, Harry."

"But why do you care?' Harry protested "I'm not related to you, you don't me at all, why do you care what happens to me?!" the words burst out of Harry with more passion than either he or Dante knew he had.

"I care because I have seen kids in your situation go down the wrong path without someone to guide them toward the right one, I care because no child deserves to suffer the way you have, and I care because I was taught to live by the golden rule."

Harry cocked his head slightly and asked "the golden rule?"

"Yes" Dante nodded "it says treat others the way that you want to be treated. I know if I had been abused as a child the way you were, I would have wanted someone to help me so I will help you."

Harry's stomach growled again

"All right, let's go eat." Dante said.

Harry nodded

After breakfast they walked a couple of blocks to offices of Warren and William (AN: I made up that law firm).

When they arrived the secretary greeted them "How may I help you?" she asked

"Hi, is John Elliot available?" Dante asked. John Elliot was not a Seeker but his father and younger sister were, as such John Elliot had offered his services to the Huntik Foundation although if the foundation didn't have any cases for him to work on he was willing to take cases for other people as well.

"I'll check" she typed some things on her computer "According the schedule he is free until 9:30 this morning. If you give me your name, I can call and see if he is willing to talk to you." She said

"Of course, my name is Dante Vale" Dante replied

"Just a minute" the secretary said and then she picked up her phone and pressed a button on it.

"Hi John, there's a Dante Vale here to see you, shall I send him on up?"

The reply was unintelligible

"Very good" the secretary said and then she hung up

"He says he'll see you. Go down the hall to the elevator and take it to the third floor and it's the first door on your left."

"Thank you kindly" Dante said and then he headed down the hallway with Harry following close behind.

When they got to John Elliot's office, John got up from his desk and said "Dante, nice to see you" as he walked over "how have you been?" He and Dante shook hands

Harry blinked; John Elliot was not at all what he had been expecting. He had been expecting someone like Uncle Vernon's lawyer, a stuffy bald old guy with no sense of humor. John Elliot however was relatively young, somewhere his thirties Harry suspected, blonde haired, and friendly.

"Good to see you too John, you seem to be doing pretty well for yourself" Dante replied

"Yeah, things are going great. Come in, come in"

Harry and Dante did. John closed the door behind them so they could have some privacy and then he sat back down at his desk

"Now, I assume this isn't a social call, what do you need…you haven't gone and gotten Scotland Yard after you again, have you?"

"No, not this time" Dante said, knowing that John would never let him live that incident down even though it had happened nearly ten years ago now "It's actually about young Harry here" Dante said motioning to the young kid next to him

"Oh" John blinked, the kid had been so quiet that he hadn't even noticed him "hi there, little guy, the name's John Elliot, attorney at law, nice to meet you" he said holding his hand out to the kid, the kid looked at it confused, no one had ever offered to shake his hand before. Slowly, hesitantly, Harry reached up and took it.

John, wanting to move past the awkward moment looked at Dante, hoping he would explain.

Dante did, he told John everything

"Hmm, I see" John said his voice grave "well…I'm afraid that pressing charges will be difficult without proof, right now all we have is his word, I have a friend on the force, I can probably get him to investigate if you like."

"No," Harry blurted

Both men looked at him

Harry quickly hung his head "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have interrupted."

"No, Harry, this is about you, if you have something you want to say, you have the right to say it." Dante said

"He's right" John agreed "we're here to help you, but we can't do that if you don't talk to us."

"Well…I don't want my aunt and uncle to get in trouble; I just don't want them to hurt me anymore." Harry said softy

"Ok, Harry" Dante said softly "if that's what you want"

"Well, that shouldn't be hard" John said "the easiest way to do that is to just have them sign a contract stating they willingly and permanently agree to forfeit any rights and/or responsibilities in regards to young Harry, including but not limited to financial obligations, parental rights, etc. I can work up such a contract right here, right now if you like."

"Do we have to have the Dursleys here too?" Dante asked

"No" John shook his head "I can write up the custody agreement, have you sign it, notarize the signature and have them sign it later and once it's been signed I can send a copy to you."

"That would be great, thank you John." Dante agreed

They sat there for a bit while John typed up the agreement and then he printed it out and handed it over to Dante. Dante read over the contract and said

"It looks good" then he signed it and John signed as well then Harry popped up

"What's notarize mean?"

"It means that I verify that Dante is who he says he is and that I witnessed him sign the document that's all." John explained

"Oh" Harry said

"Do you need anything else from us, John?" Dante asked

"No, I think I'm all set, I won't be able to get anything done on it until this afternoon." John said

"That's fine" Dante assured him "In that case, we are off and running

After that, the two went clothes shopping at a local strip mall. Harry was having a hard time getting used to clothes that were actually his size instead of being several times bigger. Dante then made a brief stop at the local salvation army to donate Dudley's old cast offs since Harry would no longer be wearing them. Once that was taken care of they still had a few hours until they had to leave for Italy. So Dante spent those last few hours showing Harry some of the sights of London.

_Meanwhile _

John Elliot headed for Privet Drive around 1 in the afternoon. Once he found number four (it was a little difficult since every house looked exactly the same as every other house on the street) he rang the doorbell

"Yes?" Petunia asked when she answered

"Good afternoon madam" John Elliot began formally "my name is John Elliot, I am a lawyer, I represent Dante Vale-"

"What does that freak want now?!" Petunia shrieked "we already gave him the brat!"

"I have a contract here; it states that you willingly forfeit all rights and responsibilities regarding one, Harry James Potter, all I need is for you and your husband to sign it, is he home?"

"Yes" Petunia answered, Vernon had been so thrilled at the idea of getting rid of the freakish brat that he had taken a rare personal day to celebrate. "Come in, quick and let's get this over with." Then she stepped back so John could enter

As soon as he stepped inside John starting feeling even more uncomfortable, it was just too clean, it didn't have that lived in feeling you expected when you walked into someone's house.

"Petunia, what's this about?" Vernon demanded, he didn't like being interrupted, when he was drinking, which he was at that moment, he had a glass of wine in his hand.

John introduced himself once again and explained why he was there

"So let me guess this straight, we sign this ruddy contract of yours, and we never have to hear about the freak or the brat ever again?' Vernon asked

"Yes, that's correct" John said, he was liking these people less and less every second….Dante seriously owed him one for this.

"Give it over here" Vernon growled as he snatched the papers from John's hand. He quickly signed them without even bothering to glance at any of the actual text. Once he had signed he handed them over to Petunia who quickly added her own name.

"Is that everything Mr. Elliot?" Petunia asked hastily as she handed the papers back to John. She was trying to alleviate some of the strongly negative impression Vernon had given. Vernon was too drunk and annoyed to care about things like that at the moment. Petunia's attempts were however, not only failing completely but also having the opposite effect.

"I need to see some proof of ID, since I do not know either of you; I need to verify that you are in fact, Vernon and Petunia Dursley." John told her

Petunia rushed over to her purse, she pulled out her wallet, took out her driver's license and handed it to John. John made a show of examining it closely and then handed it back to her and said "Thank you, Mrs. Dursley. Mr. Dursley, I need to see an ID from you as well."

Vernon grumpily reached into his pocket and pulled out his own wallet. He took his Driver's License out of it, got of his chair and literally shoved it, in John's face as he shouted "HERE, HERE, HERE! I AM Vernon Dursley and I don't want anything to do with the freakish brat, his new freak friend or you, ever again! NOW GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

John was taken aback, he hadn't been expecting a pleasant reception and yet he hadn't been expecting such a hostile reaction either. However he had gotten what he wanted so he was only too happy to beat a hasty retreat.

Only when he was safely in his car did he sign the contract as well, notarizing the event.

_A few months later_

Arabella Figg was beginning to get worried; she hadn't seen any sign of Harry Potter in months. Much as she detested the Dursleys, she decided that she was going to have to try talking to them. Reluctantly she picked up her phone and dialed the Dursleys' number.

"Dursley residence, Petunia speaking." Petunia's voice said over the phone

"Hi Petunia, its Arabella" Arabella began

"Oh, hello Arabella, how are you?" Petunia said

"All right and yourself?" Arabella responded politely

"Very well, thank you."

"Petunia, I have a slight problem" Arabella said, she knew that she needed a reason for calling besides Harry "My kitchen sink just sprung a leak, do you know where I can find a decent plumber?"

"Oh, that's awful. That happened to us not too long ago. An acquaintance of Vernon's gave us the name and number of a plumber and he did a pretty good job, would you like me to get it for you?"

"Yes, please" Arabella said

There was some shuffling as Petunia searched for the name and number of that plumber. While she was doing that Arabella asked trying very hard to make sure that her voice sounded casual

"Say Petunia, I haven't seen your nephew around lately…is he all right?"

"Oh yes, he's fine, I assume" Petunia said simply "he's not with us anymore, some guy came over and wanted to adopt him and a good thing too because he was getting to be a real handful-"

"What guy?" Arabella blurted out

"Oh" Petunia said with feigned nonchalance, she REALLY didn't want to remember neither the brat nor the freak who took him away "I'm afraid I don't remember very much about him. He had reddish hair and his name was rather odd Dan-something or other, some nasty foreign name."

"Anything else you can tell me about him?" Arabella pressed

"I don't really remember anything else…why do you care so much anyway?" Petunia said

Arabella however had hung up the phone as soon as Petunia had said that she didn't remember the man who had taken her nephew. After a moment or two Petunia said

"Hello Arabella, are you still there?" in response however Petunia could hear nothing but the dial tone so she hung up.

Since Arabella was a squib living in a muggle neighborhood her house was not connected to the floo network so the only way she knew of to contact Albus Dumbledore was via owl post. Luckily she had an owl and one did not need to be a wizard in order to use owl post. So she went up to her bedroom and grabbed some parchment and a pen, that was one muggle alternative she greatly preferred over the standard wizard implement. Quickly she wrote

**Albus,**

**HARRY POTTER IS MISSING! I hadn't seen him for a while so I contacted Petunia Dursley; she told me that Harry had been adopted months ago by some man with reddish hair, that's all I know regarding Harry.**

**Arabella Figg**

Albus Dumbledore was in his office examining some memories through a pensive, he had deduced that Voldemort was not gone forever, he knew that Tom had made at least two horcruxes (counting Harry) but he suspected it was more than that, he was in the process of trying to figure out how many horcruxes there were and where they were hidden when a tawny owl arrived and perched on the windowsill.

He put down his pensive and moved over to the windowsill He carefully removed the owl's letter and the bird promptly flew off again. Dumbledore opened the letter and realized immediately it was from Arabella Figg because he recognized her handwriting. He read the letter quickly, alarmed at the implications, he had several devices monitoring Harry, those devices should have alerted him had any dark wizard set foot on Privet Drive or if Harry had either renounced Privet Drive as his home or been kidnapped against his will. He had to get to the bottom of this; he dropped the letter and raced out of his office. Not even the headmaster of Hogwarts could apparate inside the school grounds, it was annoying but there was nothing Dumbledore could do about it.

As soon as he was outside of the school gates and the anti-apparation wards, he apparated right to Privet Drive. Luckily for him, no muggles happened to be out and about so Albus didn't have to oblievate anyone. Albus quickly raced up the walkway to number four and rang the doorbell.

Petunia was in the middle of dusting the living room when she heard the doorbell ring. She stopped dusting and walked over to the door, she looked through the peephole and saw an old man in a grey cloak, and he was clearly yet another freak. Petunia's first instinct was to ignore the doorbell and pretend that there was no one home, but then she began to worry what the neighbors would think if they saw the freak standing on their doorstep so she reluctantly opened the door.

"Hello Mrs. Dursley" Dumbledore greeted politely "may I come in?"

"Yes, hurry, before someone sees you." Petunia hissed at him. Once the old freak was inside she demanded bluntly "What are you doing here?"

"My name is Albus Dumbledore" the old guy said, Petunia recognized that name, it was the one that had been on the letter that had been dropped on their doorstep along with the freak, back when they had been a nice, normal, British family and they would have gone back to being that…if only these freaks would stop showing up!

"I understand your nephew Harry has been adopted." Dumbledore continued "I need you to tell me who it was that took him."

"He was one of you…I don't really remember" Petunia claimed. She had no idea that Dumbledore was using legimenacy on her. Since she was thinking about it, Dumbledore was able to find the memory he was searching for pretty quickly.

The memory however confused him a great deal. Dante Vale, the name meant nothing to Dumbledore, he had been dressed in muggle clothes though he seemed to be a wizard although the spell he had used was vastly different from anything Dumbledore had ever seen. Wandless magic was rare but not unheard of. In Western cultures Latin was the language of choice for most spell work, Dumbledore knew that other cultures used other languages but he did not know of any that used English as the root for spell work and Touch Ram was definitely English. He strongly suspected however, that Dante Vale was not a British Wizard which would make finding him and more importantly finding Harry difficult, although Dumbledore was the head of the International Confederation of Wizards his reach outside of Britain was fairly limited.

"I am deeply disappointed in you Petunia, I had hoped that love and family would overcome your jealously, clearly I was mistaken. I should also tell you that the magic that has been protecting you all this time will fail very soon since Harry no longer calls this place home, dark wizards will be able to find you and torture you and your family." Dumbledore told her

"Well, then you find the freak and bring him back!" Petunia demanded

"I will look for Harry, but with the very little information I have to go on, I suspect finding him to be very difficult if not impossible." Dumbledore turned to leave

"The lawyer!" Petunia exclaimed

Dumbledore stopped and turned back to face Petunia again  
"The guy who has Harry, his lawyer came over and had us sign some papers, he may know where to find the boy." Petunia said

"I see what was his name?" Dumbledore asked

"It was..ugh, I can't remember!" Petunia shouted frustrated with herself

Again Dumbledore tried using Legimency but this time Petunia was telling the truth, she honestly did not remember the lawyer's name, but she did remember what he looked like. Still a young blonde lawyer from somewhere in Britain was not a lot to go on but Dumbledore did have a few contacts among the legal offices of Britain maybe one of them would have an idea.

"I see, thank you for your help." Then Dumbledore apparated back to Hogwarts to begin his covert (he didn't want the wizarding world to panic because their savior was missing) search for Harry Potter.

AN: the next chapter will contain a time skip


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

It had been almost a year since Dumbledore learned that Harry Potter had vanished. Dumbledore had asked every lawyer he knew if they knew of any lawyers that fit the description he had gotten from Petunia, he had come up with a list and was working his way down the names. The very last was John Elliot from the law firm Warren and William. If this man wasn't the lawyer he was looking for….Dumbledore wasn't certain what he was going to do. He had already tried every locating spell and/or ritual that he knew of and came up with nothing, the irony that part of that was most likely due the steps he had taken to ensure that Harry would be safe at Privet Drive was not lost on him. Anyway Dumbledore was determined not to worry about that before he had to, so he stepped through the double doors into the law firm.

"May I help you?" The receptionist greeted him

"Yes, I am here to speak with John Elliot, is he available?" Dumbledore asked

The lady pulled up the schedule on her computer and said "well, he has a meeting in ten minutes-"

"That's all right, I'll be quick" Dumbledore responded and headed toward the elevator, ignoring the secretary's attempts to call him back. Helpfully there was a directory right next to the elevator and according to it, John Elliot's office was on the third floor, so he stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.

Another helpful feature of the building was that there were name plates outside each door so when Dumbledore got out of the elevator, he saw that the door to his right was the office for John Elliot…perfect.

When Dumbledore entered the office, John was busy gathering up his papers and getting ready to head down to the conference room for his meeting, John looked up when Dumbledore entered and he said "I'm sorry sir, but I have an important meeting to get to-"

"That's all right; this'll only take a minute." Dumbledore assured him "I'm looking for a young boy named Harry Potter, I heard he was staying with someone named Dante Vale, have you seen either of them?" While he spoke, Dumbledore tried to enter his mind using legimency but he was in for another shock. He couldn't get into the man's mind, there was a barrier blocking him…it wasn't an occulmency shield, or at least it wasn't anything like the occulmency shields that he was familiar with. Another oddity was that Dumbledore strongly believed that this man was a muggle and no one could use occulmency without using magic, which for muggles was impossible, it didn't make sense. He searched in vain for a hole to slip through but it was futile, the shields were too strong for him to penetrate.

John Elliot was getting suspicious…he wondered if this old guy was an Organization goon, trying to trick him into revealing some information. The Organization had only recently popped up on the Huntik Foundation's radar, but apparently they had been working in the shadows for years to attempt to take over the world using their Seekers and Titans. Although John Elliot was not a Seeker, he was a lawyer who worked for the Huntik Foundation and as such he was privy to a few of the Foundation's secrets, so every day one of the Foundation Seekers from the nearby safe house would cast a Mind Cage spell on him before he went to work, so that no Organization Seeker would be able to get information out of his mind.

"Why do you need to know?" John Elliot asked

"I was good friends with his parents" Dumbledore said "Until they died and I was wondering how their son was doing, I have only just returned to the country, you see."

John didn't buy that story for one minute "He's safe and happy, that's all you need to know" he told the old guy coldly

"You don't understand. It's very important that I find him!" Dumbledore pressed

"It seems to me that you don't understand the meaning of lawyer-client confidentially, I have told you as much as I am allowed to legally. Now I have to go-"

Dumbledore didn't want to have to resort to this but it seemed he had no other choice, "Imperio" he muttered very softly, fingering his wand through his pocket. "Tell me where to find Harry"

"I told you before, I can't say and I wouldn't tell you even if I could!" John said angrily

Dumbledore was shocked, he knew that the curse could be fought of course, he had done it himself even; but it took a great deal of effort, there would have been some visible sign of struggle, a clenching of the fists, a vein pulsing on the forehead…something, but John Elliot seemed like he never even NOTICED the curse much less fought against it and yet he was somehow going against the curse.

Before Dumbledore had recovered from his shock John shouted "NOW GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!"

With no other options Dumbledore did exactly that. He took solace in the fact that his instruments indicated that Harry was still alive. If he was still alive when he turned eleven the magic of Hogwarts would be able to find him (if all else failed as Dumbledore feared it would), and they could then use the address to track him down….Dumbledore could only hope.

_A few years later_

Dumbledore was watching as Hogwarts' enchanted self-addressing quill was making out envelopes to mail out to the new students; normally McGonnagall would be standing in his place since signing the letters was one of her duties as Deputy Headmistress, however this year Harry Potter would be turning eleven and Dumbledore wanted very much to know where he was so the headmaster waited. He knew that Harry Potter's name was still on the school rooster so he should be getting one. He wasn't sure how long he stood there and waited until finally it wrote the address for Harry's letter. As soon as the quill was finished Dumbledore snatched and read it.

**Mr. Harry Potter**

**The second bedroom**

**139 Sunset Drive **(AN: Don't know Dante's 'actual' address so I made that up)

**Venice, Italy**

Luckily Dumbledore spoke fluent Italian, it would be hopeful when he went to go get Harry. He just hoped this wasn't yet another false lead. When Petunia had first told him about Harry being taken by Dante Vale, he had suspected that Harry was not living in Britain. He had put a word out to his contacts abroad, telling them as discretely as he could to keep an eye out for Harry Potter. He had gotten several reports from all corners of the world (except Antarctica), each time he had rushed to the place where Harry had been seen only to find no sign of the boy or Dante Vale.

_Later_

Harry had changed a great deal since he had been living with Dante. Although he was still a little short for his age, he was no longer so incredibly skinny. Thanks to a healthy diet and a great deal of exercise, he had developed a great deal of muscle tone and since he traveled around with Dante on missions he was also rather tan. He no longer wore glasses, he wore contacts instead. His hair however, remained as untamable as ever.

Dante and Harry were sparing in Dante's basement and so were Perseus and Caliban, although for Titans sheer raw attack power was innate and unchangeable (with a few exceptions like Umbra, the Shadow Jaguar) they could improve their fighting skills and techniques through sparing just like humans did, in fact according to Dante a more skilled Titan could defeat a more powerful Titan.

Then suddenly the doorbell rang. The two stopped sparing and Harry asked "Who do you think that is?"

"Don't know" Dante replied "but there's one way to find out" and then he headed upstairs with Harry following close behind him (both Seekers first called their titans back to them. Dante was fairly certain that it was not a member of the Organization, they almost never used doorbells.

When Dante opened the door, he saw an old man in a bizarre purple outfit standing there.

"May I help you?" Dante asked with a raised eyebrow

"I hope so, I'm looking for an eleven year old boy named Harry Potter, is he here?" the man said

"Who wants to know?" Dante responded

"My name is Albus Dumbledore" the man introduced himself "I'm the headmaster of a school for gifted kids, it's the same school that his parents went to and I want to offer him a place as well. May I come in so we can discuss this further?"

"All right" Dante said and he stepped back to let the man in

Albus stepped inside the house and then he noticed Harry, who was standing nearby.

"Harry" Albus greeted him "It's so good to see you, you look just like your father except for your eyes, you have your mother's eyes."

"My mother, you mean you knew my parents?!" Harry said excitedly. Harry loved Dante very much and would be forever grateful to him but at the same time, he couldn't help but be curious about the people who had given birth to him. His aunt and uncle had never told him very much and Dante didn't know anything "My other parents, I mean" Harry added hastily, he didn't want Dante to get the wrong idea

"Yes, I knew them well. I was very worried when you disappeared from your relatives' house" Dumbledore said

"How did you know that is where he was staying?" Dante asked

"It's a long story gentlemen; so I suggest we make ourselves comfortable first." Dumbledore said

Once the three had gotten themselves situated Dumbledore began speaking again "I suppose it all begins with the fall of Voldemort-"

"Who?" Harry asked

"Voldemort, my boy" Dumbledore said "Haven't you heard of him?"

Harry shook his head

Dumbledore turned to Dante and said "Now really, Mr. Vale, this is just plain ridiculous. I know Voldemort did not trouble Italy very much but you still should have told Harry about him and more importantly about his own history!"

"How did you expect me to do that when I have no idea who this Voldemort is or what history you're talking about" Dante replied

"Do you seriously expect me to believe that you stole Harry Potter from his flesh and blood relatives without knowing that he is the only known person to have EVER survived the killing curse?!"

"I didn't STEAL him" Dante countered "they were more than happy to let me take him. Furthermore WHY do you want him to go back to 'relatives' who abused him?!"

"Can you guys explain to me what's going on and THEN yell at each other?" Harry asked

Dumbledore sighed

"Harry, you may find this hard to believe but there is a whole other society hidden from the rest of the world. It is a magical one, populated by werewolves, ghosts, and of course, witches and wizards. I am a member of it and so are you."

"Really?" Harry asked

Dumbledore nodded "allow me to demonstrate" Dumbledore said pulling out his wand and pointing it a vase on a nearby table "Wingardium Leviosa" the vase rose into the air, flew around the room and then set itself back on the table

Harry thought that was a waste, one of the very first lessons Dante had given him was conserve your power, never use a titan when a Seeker power would do and never use a Seeker power to do something you could do without magic, that lesson had been drilled into him. "So you're a wizard and you want to teach me?" He concluded

Dumbledore nodded "didn't Dante tell you that?"

"How was I supposed to know?" Dante asked

"You're a wizard too, aren't you?" Dumbledore responded "Petunia told me about the spell you cast at them when you went to get Harry, Touch Ram I believe she said it was…I have never heard of such a spell, where did you learn it?"

Dante thought for a moment. Seekers had always been determined to stay hidden, Dumbledore as a wizard was not a non-magical but he was not a Seeker so he was hesitant about discussing it. He was however curious about wizards and worried that they were vulnerable to infiltration by the Organization, the same non-magical societies were and as the saying went sometimes you had to give some to get some. Ultimately he decided to keep quiet, at least until he had spoken to the Huntik Council.

Harry got impatient so before Dante opened his mouth he asked "this Voldemort guy was a wizard to then?"

Resigned, Dumbledore sighed "Yes, he was. He was a dark lord, an evil wizard. His goal was to kill off all non-magical people, we call them muggles, and enslave the muggle-borns-"

"Muggle-borns?" Harry asked

"Witches or wizards born to muggle parents" Dumbledore explained and then he continued "Voldemort killed several good witches and wizards and then when you were a year old he came to your family's house in Godric's Hollow. He killed your mother and father and he tried to kill you, but his curse backfired and hit him instead."

"Why would the curse backfire?" Dante asked

Dumbledore looked between them and said "It's an ancient druidic counter charm…so ancient that's practically been forgotten. Druidic magic is very different from modern magic, for the Druids magic was an exchange; if you wanted magic to do something for you, you had to give it something of equal value in return." Then he turned his gaze toward Harry directly and continued "Your mother asked magic for the greatest gift of all, she asked for it to save your life so in exchange she gave up her own."

"Wait a minute" Dante interjected "You said that Harry is the only known person to have ever survived the killing curse but Harry's mother can't have been the first woman to give up her own life to save her child."

Dumbledore sighed again "No, she wasn't and unfortunately she will not likely be the last either. However like I said this counter charm although extremely powerful is extremely ancient and practically lost to the ages. I have no idea how Lily learned it, I only discovered its' existence after Voldemort was defeated. The killing curse on the other hand, is comparatively new. It was invented in 1882 by a well respected healer-"

"A healer?" Harry interjected

"Yes, our version of doctors" Dumbledore explained

Harry wanted to say duh, he'd figured that out but kept his mouth shut out of courtesy, Dante had taught him manners in addition to Seeker magic and of course, Dante had not neglected Harry's mundane (non magical education) either.

"The healer had several patients with incurable diseases that made their lives miserable. He wanted to end their suffering but since he couldn't cure them, he developed a quick and painless way to kill them. It's a sad irony that a powerful spell invented to help people wound up being used to harm far too many of them."

Dante said nothing he was satisfied with that explanation, Harry however not, his was being alive thanks to his mother didn't make sense. When he was little he had wanted to know why his parents had left him with the Dursleys (their story kept changing) so Perseus had showed him the memory of his parents being killed by some weird looking guy and green light, now that memory made a lot more sense. Harry believed that his survival was mainly thanks to Perseus and sent a telepathic thank you through the bond. He felt Perseus send him a warm feeling in return. Harry also knew that his titan was paying careful attention to all this. He opened his mouth to say something but Dante caught his eye and shook his head ever so slightly. Harry got the message and closed his mouth.

Dumbledore noticed this and realized that the two were trying to hide something from him, he didn't like it but he was not yet willing to try using legimency. So he continued "What I do know is, that when Voldemort failed to kill you, his power broke and he fled."

"So he's dead right?" Harry asked

Dumbledore shook his head "No, I do not believe so…I suspect that he is still out there somewhere, without his followers or most of his powers but he is not to be taken lightly. You are however, the only known person to have ever survived the killing curse so in our world you are famous. That is one of the reasons why I left you with your aunt and uncle. I wanted you to have a normal childhood, where you didn't have to deal with all the pressure and expectations."

"Don't I have some other family besides the Dursleys?" Harry asked

Dumbledore sighed "I'm sorry my boy, but no, you don't. Both your father's parents and your mother's parents are dead. James was an only child and your mother only had one sister and no brothers."

Harry hung his head, the explanation made sense but it still hurt.

"Anyway, your mother's sacrifice is also why I left you at the Dursleys, since your mother willingly gave her life to protect you that protection also dwells in those who share her blood."

"Petunia and Dudley" Harry deduced

Dumbledore nodded "yes, blood protection is the most powerful protection known to the magical world. As long as you call the place where your mother's blood dwells home…no magic can harm you."

"What about non-magic?" Dante asked

Dumbledore looked at him confused

"Would it protect him from someone beating him with their fists or starving him or working him like a slave, that kind of thing?" Dante elaborated

"…no, but no one would do such things." Dumbledore replied

"I wish you were right but you're not" Dante responded "that is EXACTLY the situation that I found Harry in-"

"Surely you exaggerate; it can't have been that bad." Dumbledore denied

"He's not exaggerating" Harry responded coming to Dante's defense then he stood up "Dante saved me from the Dursleys and if you are going to try and force me to go back there, I'm not sure I want to go to your school!" he stormed up the stairs to his bedroom.

Dumbledore tried to follow him but Dante blocked him

"Don't" Dante said "Anything you say right now will only make things worse"

Dumbledore regarded Dante for a moment and then asked "So where exactly did you learn that spell?"

Thinking fast Dante lied "I invented it" he also discretely cast a mind cage power on himself in case wizards could read minds like Seekers could.

It was a good thing that Dante had since Dumbledore immediately began using Legimency. He encountered the same kind of barrier that he had in John Elliot's mind and was once again thwarted. Dumbledore knew that Harry and Dante were hiding something big from him and he was even more determined to find out what it was. He felt his chances would be better if he got Harry to go to Hogwarts.

Almost as if Dumbledore's thoughts had been a summons Harry appeared at the top of the staircase,

"Harry" Dante spoke before Dumbledore could "I think the two of us should talk before you decide about going to Hogwarts."

"Okay Dante" Harry agreed

Dante turned to Dumbledore and said "Excuse us for a moment"

Then he and Harry walked into the next room.

"Block Sound" Dante said softly. The seeker power would prevent Dumbledore from being able to eavesdrop on them.

"Do you want to go to Hogwarts?" Dante asked Harry

Harry sighed "Well, I would like to be able to learn more about my birth parents. I love you of course, don't get me wrong!"

Dante chuckled slightly "Harry relax, I'm not upset with you for being curious about your past. It's perfectly natural…I sense a but coming though"

"Yeah…I just don't trust Dumbledore. I think he was lying about my mom"

"You mean about what happened the night she died right?" Dante asked

He knew about the memory, Harry had asked him to explain it, more than once but Dante hadn't really been able to. As far as he knew there was no seeker power that could kill someone without leaving a mark on them plus he didn't have a clue on how to explain the bizarre looking guy that Harry had described

Harry nodded

"Well, I don't blame you for being suspicious of him, I don't trust him either. I do have to caution you about jumping to conclusions. He probably doesn't know that Perseus even exists let alone that he was there that night. He's probably just making an educated guess about what happened."

"You don't think he knows about Titans and Seekers?" Harry asked

"No" Dante said shaking his head "I think Wizards are likely as ignorant of our existence as everyone else is and for now I would like to keep it that way. At least until we have a chance to talk to the Huntik Council about it." his voice trailed off as he thought about Metz, bedridden and wasting away.

"Ok, so are you telling me that I shouldn't go?" Harry asked

"No, that's up to you, I will support you in whatever you decide, just if you do go, be careful. We don't know what we're dealing with."

Harry nodded "I know but I still want to go. Dumbledore's the Headmaster, which means he shouldn't have much contact with the students, right?"

"In our world that's true, we don't know about the wizard world. Take your holotome with you, we can use it to keep in touch…don't think this means you're going to get out of mundane lessons either, those are important too. Are you sure you can handle it all?"

After being kept in the dark so much about everything Harry wanted to learn as much as possible and his adventures had taught him that what seems like the most trivial piece of knowledge on the planet can wind up being useful. One time, he and Dante were exploring an abandoned Mayan temple near the ruins of the city of Palenque (in modern Mexico) in order to retrieve the titan Dorado (see note at the end of the chapter) knowing that the Maya laid out their temples as mini versions of the cosmos (the shrines to the gods of the Underworld were underground, the priests living quarters were at the ground level and the shrines to the gods of the heavens were on the upper levels) turned out to be the key to navigating the temple and ultimately finding the titan who had later bonded (a regular bond NOT a power bond) with Harry.

The titan Dorado was part of the inspiration for the mythical city of El Dorado. One of Dorado's special abilities was the power to turn his enemies into gold. Native American legend said that a god had taken human form to test the people of a city (the specific city and god varied depending on which tribe was telling the story. He had pretended to be a poor man with a badly broken leg and begged for someone to treat him everyone had refused. They had all wanted money before they would help him. So as punishment, the god has sent Dorado to turn them into gold. When the Spanish had heard the story, they completely missed the moral of it (ironically mimicking the Titan's other ability, the ability to drive his enemies into a greedy frenzy) and made several futile searches for the city of gold. They had also confused the city and the titan hence the myth of the El Dorado the city of gold.

"I know it's a lot" Harry said "but I can do it, at the very least I want to try."

"Are you sure, we don't know very much about the school yet" Dante pointed out

"Oh, right. Maybe we should ask Dumbledore some more questions first." Harry responded

Then the two of them left and went back to the other room

"I'd like to know a bit more about Hogwarts before I make a decision" Harry told Dumbledore

"Of course, that reminds me. I have this letter for you." Dumbledore reached into his cloak, pulled out a folded and sealed letter and handed it to him.

Harry realized immediately that it was written on parchment and judging from the condition of it, freshly made parchment. "Wizards still write on parchment?" he blurted out

Dumbledore chose not to dignify that with a response.

Harry flipped the letter over and looked at the seal for a brief moment and then opened the letter

At the top it said

**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**

_**(Order of Merlin: First Class, Grand Sorc. Chief Warlock. Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards) **_Harry didn't know what most of those titles meant but continued on to the actual body of the letter

**Dear Mr. Potter**, it began

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1; we await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours Sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall**

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

Harry handed the first page to Dante and began to read the second

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL **_**of **_**WITCHCRAFT **_**and**_** WIZARDRY**

**UNIFORM **

**First-year students will require: **

**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**

**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**

**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**

**4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings) **

**Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags. **

**COURSE BOOKS **

**All students should have a copy of each of the following: **

_**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)**_

**by Miranda Goshawk **

_**A History of Magic**_

_**by Bathilda Bagshot**_

_**Magical Theory **_

_**by Adalbert Waffling**_

_**A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration**_

_**by Emeric Switch**_

_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi**_

_**by Phyllida Spore**_

_**Magical Drafts and Potions**_

_**by Arsenius Jigger**_

_**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them**_

_**by Newt Scamander**_

_**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection**_

_**by Quentin Trimble**_

**OTHER EQUIPMENT **

**1 wand**

**1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)**

**1 set glass or crystal phials**

**1 telescope**

**1 set brass scales**

**Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad. **

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS**

**ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK**

Again Harry handed the sheet to Dante and then he looked at Dumbledore, his mind swimming with questions.

"Headmaster, may I ask you a few questions?" Harry asked

"Of course, my boy what would you like to know?" Dumbledore agreed

"Where is Hogwarts anyway?" Harry said

"Northern Scotland is about all I can tell you. Hogwarts is unplottable, which means its' enchanted so it's impossible to find on a map. It also has some of the most powerful magical wards in the world to protect it from intruders."

"Why would a school need such protection?" Dante asked worriedly

Dumbledore sighed "Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by four of the greatest wizards of the age, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. The 4 houses of Hogwarts are named after them-"

"Houses, why does Hogwarts need houses, does it have a leaky roof or something?" Harry asked

Dumbledore laughed "No, nothing like that. Hogwarts is a boarding school, the houses are the dorms that students are sorted into, and they also eat meals and have classes with their house members…speaking of which, can you speak English?" The whole time the three had been conversing in Italian and he wanted to check to make Harry had not forgotten his native tongue after spending so much time in Italy, he didn't know how much Harry had traveled.

Without missing a beat Harry replied in English "Yes, pretty well. I also speak Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic and I'm working on learning Hebrew also." Since Seekers travel so much, learning other languages is very important so Dante had begun teaching him languages very early on."

"Excellent, anyway back to the issue of wards. Hogwarts was founded at a very dark time in history, wars, plagues and persecutions were happening all over the map. The founders wanted Hogwarts to be a safe place not only for the students but the broader wizarding community if necessary though the last time Hogwarts acted as a shelter was during the reign of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in the 1940s."

Harry suspected that some of that likely had to do with the bombing of London during WWII…he wondered if Grindelwald had been connected to that war or if the two wars happening simultaneously was a mere coincidence.

While Harry was musing Dumbledore continued. "Even now Hogwarts has the capacity to feed and house 10,000 people plus its' current student and teacher population. Does that answer your question?"

Dante nodded

This made Harry a bit unsure, it was true that Dante tried not to do too many missions during the school term, he wanted to disrupt Harry's education as little as possible but he still didn't like the fact that going to Hogwarts meant he would have to miss out on a few missions.

"What does it mean that they await my owl?" Harry asked

"Owl post, wizards use owls to carry messages." Dumbledore said

Harry had heard of messenger pigeons of course, he supposed the concept wasn't all that different. He didn't have a cat, an owl, or a toad so he wasn't concerned about that. Although Harry liked animals, having pets just wasn't practical for most Seekers. It got tedious having to make arrangements for someone else to pet sit while you're gone.

"Where do we get all this stuff anyway?" He asked

"Well…I don't know Italy very well, so here I don't know. Most Hogwarts students get there supplies from Diagon Alley in London." Dumbledore said "I can take you there if you like."

Harry looked at Dante

"It's your decision, I will support you whether you decide to Hogwarts or continue going to Venetian Elementary." Dante promised

Harry sighed "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt. Sure let's go Professor"

"Excellent" Dumbledore said "Follow me, I will show you some of how we wizards travel"

The two nodded and with that the three left the house.

They had only walked a block when they heard someone "MONSTER, HELP!"

Dante and Harry exchanged a look and then raced toward the sound. Dumbledore ran after them but his old bones couldn't run quite as fast as them.

Harry and Dante turned the corner and saw a pair of Organization Seekers cornering a black-haired teenager

"Give us the book, kid" one of them demanded

"No, I can't" the kid said

"Then you leave us no choice-"the other began but Dante cut him off

"So, the great and powerful Organization sends its' minions to pick on school kids, huh?" he said sarcastically

"Pretty pathetic" Harry added

"We'll show you who's pathetic!" the first Organization Seeker said and they both called their Enforcer titans out

"Help us out, Perseus!" Harry called and summoned his titan

A split second later Dante said "Come out and play, Caliban!" and invoked his titan as well just as Dumbledore finally caught up to them, he didn't understand what was going so decided to hang back.

Caliban charged the one enforcer while Dante went after its' bounded Seeker.

The other enforcer attacked Perseus who deflected the attack with his shield

The black-haired teen tried to use the opportunity to flee, but the other Organization seeker spotted him

"Oh no, you don't" she snarled "Ray Pulse!"

Harry tried to intercept it, but he wasn't quite fast enough and the yellow blast struck the fleeing teen hard in the back. He dropped the journal, he'd been clutching as he doubled over in pain.

Without thinking, Harry changed course and raced over to him, to make sure he was all right. When he reached the fallen teen he said

"You'll be all right" and then he cast "Ever Heal" and the spell healed his injury

While Harry had been doing that and Dante and Caliban were fighting, the one Organization seeker grabbed the fallen journal and hurriedly leafed through it "What the?!" she exclaimed "This is just a bunch of stupid drawings" and in disgust she threw it back toward the teen "worthless trash!" and then she turned to her partner "let's go, this isn't what we came here for."

Her partner stopped fighting Dante to look at her "What? The informant will pay for-"he was cut off when Dante kicked him hard enough to send him flying into a nearby wall

"That's what happens when you let your guard down." He said simply

"This isn't over" The female snarled "We'll destroy you next time Dante Vale and your little sidekick too"

Harry glared at being called a sidekick

The two Organization Seekers cast "Hyper Stride" and jumped onto the rooftops to escape

"Whoa" the black-haired teen said as he stood up "what happened, why were those thugs after, my sketchbook, what's going on?"

"Sketchbook?" Harry said it looked more like a journal than a sketchbook but sure enough when he opened it, it was full of random pictures and drawings; some of them were in color while others were black and white but they all showed clear signs of talent.

Meanwhile Dante walked over to the teen "Calm down, it's going to be okay."

Harry wordlessly handed the kid his sketchbook back

"Simple Mind" Dante said and red light shoot from his hand and surrounded the teen "You are going to forget any of this ever happened. Now go home and get some food." The teen's eyes glazed over and walked away

"Well, that was very peculiar I must say" Dumbledore said finally joining Harry and Dante

Dante thought he ought to try and erase this guy's memory too "Simple mind" he muttered softly but Dumbledore had thrown up his occlumency shields which prevented Dante's power from effecting his mind.

"Mr. Vale, I would appreciate if you would stop trying to erase my memory" Dumbledore said

Dante blinked briefly in surprise but did stop trying to simple mind the man

"Thank you" Dumbledore said politely "Now perhaps we should go back to your place for a while. It seems we have much to discuss"

"Yes" Dante agreed "I suppose we do."

AN: Description of my made up titan Dorado is a small titan with very short legs, a staff with feathers on the top of it and a colorful shaman-like mask. Here's his holo tome entry

Dorado

Attack: 2

Defense: 1

Type: Mezzo-titan sorcerer

Size: small

Special Abilities: Goldification and Greed Frenzy


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

They were quiet on the short walk back to Dante's house. However Dante was tapping his fingers against his right leg as he walked. This was because Dante had taught Harry Morse Code, by tapping their fingers they were able to send messages to each other without anyone else intercepting or even knowing that messages were being sent which came in very handy at times like these

'When we get home, let me do the talking' Dante tapped 'I don't want to tell him anything we don't have to. Also cast a mind cage spell on yourself'

'Why can wizards read minds?' Harry tapped back

'I don't know but better safe than sorry' Dante tapped

'Ok Dante' Harry tapped

At the point they arrived back at Dante's house as soon as they were throw the door, Dumbledore let loose.

"What were those…creatures?"

"They are called titans; they are creatures from another world known as Huntik. They are mindless by themselves so they form bonds with strong willed humans like Harry and me." Dante said

"What do you call yourselves?" Dumbledore asked "how many of you are there?"

"We call ourselves Seekers and I have no idea how many of us there are." Dante replied, it was true, he honestly did not know how many Seekers there were

"I see, how do you organize yourselves, the two that attacked the boy seemed like they were together?"

This is where things were going to get difficult. "We have several small…clubs I guess you could call them scattered throughout the world" to some degree that was true, although the Huntik Foundation and the Organization and the Casterwill clan where the only large global Seeker groups there were several small ones that were not affiliated with any of the big three.

Dumbledore didn't believe that, he was 99.999% certain that Dante was holding things back but this was still huge. There were a whole group of magic users that wizards knew nothing of. He desperately wanted more information; he wanted to know just what Seekers were capable of. He also thought of the prophecy, he had assumed that 'the Power he knew not' was love but now it seemed more likely that it was in fact Seeker abilities.

"How does this bond you speak of work exactly?" Dumbledore asked

"It's pretty complicated and hard to put into words. Not every Seeker can bond with every titan, the two have to be compatible and their relative strengths are also a factor. A beginning Seeker will probably not be able to bond with a highly powerful titan. Seeking is like most other things, you get better with practice."

Again Dumbledore sensed that Dante was holding back but he decided to back off for now. He realized that he would have to earn the duo's trust before they would tell him what he wanted to know, which was everything there was to know about titans and seekers, however there were some questions he wanted answers to now

"Harry, where did you get your titan? I assume they aren't just lying around." Dumbledore said

"I don't remember" Harry said. That was not exactly a lie; Harry was too young to have any memory of when he and Perseus had met. Perseus however, did remember and Harry could access that memory if he wanted to but he was not going to tell Dumbledore that "Perseus has been with me, ever since I can remember."

Dumbledore's face remained blank but inwardly he was a bit disappointed "You said that titans come from another world so how did they get here?"

"No one really knows all we have are theories." Dante said

This time Dumbledore believed them, but just in case he tried legimency on Harry. Using mind arts (aside from oblivations) on children could be dangerous since their minds were still developing but Dumbledore knew what he was doing so he wasn't concerned. It turned out to be a moot point anyway, since Harry's mind was also protected the same as his mentor's and try though he might, Dumbledore could not penetrate that shield.

"May we please head toward this Diagon Alley place now?" harry asked, he wanted the question and answer session to end

"Very well" Dumbledore decided to relent for now and question them again later, hopefully they would trust him enough to tell him more lately "Follow me, I will lead you to the floo station and we'll go straight to Diagon Alley from there."

"Floo Station?" Harry asked

"Yes…I believe it will be easier to show you rather than try to explain." Mainly he didn't want to scare the boy into not going floo travel could sound rather scary. He had seen muggleborns get real nervous when told that they were going to be traveling by fire for the first time.

The two Seekers nodded and once again Dumbledore led them out of Dante's house. This time their trip was uninterrupted. The Floo Station turned out to be inside the local library. They walked in, went past all the mundane or muggles whichever term you prefer reading and stepped inside one of the elevators. Dumbledore pressed a button that said authorized personnel only and the elevator took them to the very bottom floor in the library which was the floo station.

There were not very many people traveling so there was only one person in line ahead of them. It was an older woman dressed in a red cloak. She grabbed a handful of powder and then turned to them.

"Hello" she greeted in Italian "I don't recall seeing you before, are you tourists?"

"No Madame" Dumbledore replied "we are here on business. These two have never traveled by Floo before, would you mind if they watched you to see how it is done?"

"Not at all." She said and then turned to Harry and Dante "Don't be nervous, the floo can look scary but it's perfectly safe. Just make sure you speak VERY clearly otherwise you could wind up at the wrong place."

She then walked into the grate. Turned to face them once again and shouted "The Rising Falcon" and then she released the powder she had been holding. Immediately massive green flames rose up and consumed her. Harry and Dante instinctively drew back.

"All right" Dumbledore began "You two go next, I'll be right behind you."

Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to, he was rather nervous about it. After a moment, Dante took the choice from him. He took Harry's hand and grabbed a fistful of powder with his other one. Harry somewhat numbly walked with him into the grate.

"Diagon Alley" Dante shouted and then the flames rose up and consumed them

Harry could see nothing but green fire and strange black shapes just wiping by at dizzying speeds. Mercifully it ended quickly and soon but not soon enough for Harry, the two of them stumbled out of the grate in England, just barely managing to avoid landing flat on their faces.

A minute or two later, Dumbledore stepped gracefully out of the grate "well, here we are" he said "Diagon Alley. Our first stop is Gringotts. It's the wizard world's only bank, run by goblins."

They stepped out into the crowded alley and Harry felt almost like he'd gone back in time. The buildings all had a rather medieval style to them, most of them appeared to be made of wood and the fact that most of the people were wearing cloaks further heightened the sense of antiquity. The only thing spoiling the illusion were the people in muggle clothes (presumably muggleborns) running around the place. It all reminded Harry rather strongly of the Renaissance Fair that Dante had taken him to while they were on a mission in the United States.

They walked down the alley to a large marble building. Harry paused briefly to read the poem on the doors

**Enter Stranger but take heed**

**Of what awaits the sin of greed**

**If you seek beyond our doors**

**A treasure that was never yours**

**Thief, you have been warned beware**

**Of finding more than treasure there.**

Dumbledore followed Harry's gaze and then said "the goblins take security very seriously and they hate thieves more than almost anything else. Gringotts is one of the safest places in country, the only place that beats it is Hogwarts and not by much."

Then headed inside and waited for a goblin teller to become available. It didn't take too long only about 5 minutes before they were walking up to the counter.

"May I help you?" the goblin asked

"Yes, I have Harry Potter here and he needs to go down to his fault. I myself also need to make a withdrawal from vault 713."

"Does Mister Harry Potter have his key?" the goblin asked leaning over the counter to look down at Harry

"Yes, I have it right here" Dumbledore said pulling a silver key out of his pocket

"Why do YOU have Harry's vault key?" Dante asked suspiciously

"Because I am his magical guardian." Dumbledore began

The suspicious look on Dante's face intensified

"Hogwarts staff members typically act as the magical guardians of muggleborn or raised students since muggles cannot come to many wizarding establishments including Hogwarts and Saint Mungos, the only magical hospital in Britain. This way every student has someone to turn to in the event of an emergency."

"And does the _headmaster_ typically do this?" Dante asked

"It varies, I personally have always had a few students and so have some of my predecessors but others have decided not to act as magical guardians it is completely up to them."

"That still doesn't explain why you have his vault key." Dante pointed out

Harry couldn't help but notice that the goblin teller seemed rather amused by the exchange going on between the two human men.

Dumbledore resisted the urge to hex the obstinate Italian man. He couldn't remember the last time he had been grilled like this…he was beginning to really detest Dante Vale, the man kept making everything far more difficult than it should be.

"Lily and James knew that Voldemort was after them and they wanted to make sure that Harry was taken care of in the event that he survived the war and they did not. They also knew that Harry would not legally be allowed to assess the main family vault until he was an adult. So they set up a personal trust vault for him that he would be able to use until he came of age and then the vault would be closed and the funds transferred back into the main vault. This-"he pointed to the silver key that was still on the counter

"This is the key to Harry's trust vault. As his magical guardian, it was my responsibility to keep the key safe until Harry returned to the wizarding world, I have done so. Now that Harry is back I am handing the key over to him as I am duly bound to do."

"Why you, wasn't there anyone else, if Lily and James made preparations like you say they did, I am sure that they had a will." Dante said

"Yes, they did and in the will, they said that Harry should go to Alice and Frank Longbottom"

Dante opened his mouth to demand to know why Harry had not been sent to them when Dumbledore continued

"Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom were tortured into insanity and currently reside in Saint Mungos' long term care ward…they cannot even recognize their own son let alone raise someone else's. Their second choice was Sirius Black, James' best friend or so it was believed. It turned out that Sirius was a traitor and told Voldemort where the Potters were hiding, when Voldemort was defeated Black fled. He was cornered by Peter Pettigrew on a muggle city street in London. Black blasted and Peter and killed twelve other people with a single curse. He is now in Azkaban, the wizard prison, for his crimes."

Dante wasn't certain that he believed of all of this but right then he did not have any proof otherwise so for now he let the issue drop. Although he planned to fact check him as soon as he got the chance.

"Are you ready to go down to the vaults now then?" the goblin asked

"Yes, we are" Dumbledore answered

"Very well, Griphook will take you down. Griphook!" the teller said

Another goblin emerged and told them "come with me"

He led them down into a bunch of caverns filled with mine tracks and mine carts. It looked a lot like one of those mining themed roller coasters in muggle amusement parks. When they got in it rode a lot like one of those coasters too. Harry loved it, he loved speed.

They arrived at his vault too soon for his liking. Griphook then used the silver key to open the door. Inside there was a massive pile of gold, silver, and bronze coins. Harry picked up one of the gold ones and looked at it, trying to find something to tell him what it was worth but there was none

Dumbledore knowing that Harry would need it explained helpfully said "The most valuable ones are the gold galleons, next is the silver sickles and last are the bronze knuts. There are 17 sickles to a galleon and 29 knuts to a sickle."

Harry frowned in confusion, why such bizarre numbers? He shoved some coins into his bag and walked back out.

Then they took another short trip down to vault 713

"This is one of the high security vaults it doesn't use a key." Griphook said and then he ran his finger down the vault door "If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they would be sucked inside the vault and trapped there."

"How often do you check if someone is inside?" Dante asked

Griphook chuckled evilly and answered "about once every ten years"

The doors opened and to Harry's disappointment there was nothing in the vault except a small grubby looking package. He reminded himself not to be deceived by appearances, after all Perseus' amulet didn't look like anything special but he wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.

Once they got back into the cart but before they set off Harry said "Mr. Griphook?"

Griphook nearly fell out of the cart, he was so shocked at being addresses politely by a wizard but he recovered himself just in time "Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"Can we take the long way back, please?" Harry asked hopefully, he still hadn't realized how strongly his simple politeness had affected Griphook

Griphook smiled, he was REALLY starting to like this kid. "Of course Mr. Potter"

Dumbledore opened his mouth to protest but Griphook pulled the lever before he managed to utter a single syllable. Eventually they came to a stop at the ground floor of Gringotts. Dumbledore could not get out of the cart fast enough. Dante and Griphook followed him but Harry lingered, he wanted to ride the carts more

"Come on, Harry" Dante called "we can come back and ride the carts some other time."

"Oh, okay" Harry replied and somewhat reluctantly climbed out of the cart.

They left the bank without doing anything else

Once they were outside Dumbledore began "Now our next destination is-"

"Actually I think we can take it from here" Dante said "I'm sure you have a very busy schedule, we don't want to waste your time."

"It's not a waste" Dumbledore countered "Are you sure you know where to go?"

"Yes" Dante said "the sign right there" he pointed at the sign on their left "says Madame Malkins' Robes for all occasions, so that is where we go for school robes. The building down there has a bunch of cauldrons outside so that is where we go for cauldrons and presumably other potions supplies especially since there are beakers and vials full of ingredients in the window. Over there is a sign with a large open book on it, that's most likely the bookshop where we can buy Harry's school books and over there is Ollivanders' makers of fine wands so that is where to go for his wand." As he spoke he pointed to each location "It's not exactly rocket science. We'll be fine."

"Besides, professor you don't look so good, you should probably go get some rest." Harry added. It was true Dumbledore did look rather green.

"Oh very well, but you will need this." He reached into his cloak pocket and handed Harry a piece of paper

"It's your train ticket for the Hogwarts Express, it leaves from King Cross Station at 11:00 see you at school." Then Dumbledore left to get some medicine for his stomach.

"Harry did you plan that?" Dante asked

"No, I didn't know that Dumbledore would get motion sick, it was just a convenient side effect." Harry replied

Then the pair headed into Madame Malkins' shop because it was the closest to them.

"Hello gentlemen" A woman, Harry assumed she was Madame Malkin greeted "Hogwarts too?" she looked at Harry when she added the last bit

Harry nodded

"Get the lot here" Madame Malkin said "have another young man being fitted up just now in fact." Then she turned to Dante asked "How about you do you need anything?"

"No thank you, I'm just here as a chaperone." Dante replied

Madame Malkin led him to the fitting area and had him stand next to a blonde boy that appeared to be the same age as him

"Hello, Hogwarts too?" he drawled

"Yeah, my name is Harry, Harry Potter and you are?" Harry replied politely

The boy's eyes widened but other than that he managed to keep cool which Harry appreciated, he didn't really want people to fawn all over him

"Draco, Draco Malfoy. I heard you were living with muggles, is that true, what are they like?" the blonde asked

"Yes, it is true" Harry answered "I lived with my aunt and uncle until I was 5 but I don't really remember them" actually he did remember them, he was just not willing to share those memories "but they didn't like me much so Dante adopted me, he's awesome!"

"Really, can you be more specific?" Draco asked "I've never met any muggles before."

"He's an archeologist"

"A what?" Draco asked

"An Archeologist, it means he studies past civilizations and he travels all over the world and I get to go with him. He's really smart too but don't take my word for it, you can meet him yourself when we're done here." It wasn't even a lie; Dante did have a doctorate degree in anthropology with an archeology option. So Dante often covered as an archeologist studying whatever civilization the mission they were on was about, he had even published some articles for archeological magazines.

"So do you know anything of the wizarding world?" Draco asked

"Not very much, Dumbledore told me some when he gave me my letter but that's all I know."

"That's a travesty, your magical guardian is SUPPOSED to teach you about your heritage particularly for an ancient and noble family like the Potters!" Draco exclaimed loudly

So loudly in fact that he startled Madame Malkin into accidently stabbing Harry with a needle. Harry winced but managed not to cry out instead he said

"Dumbledore claimed he was my magical guardian but the only thing he taught me about was the money system and that I have a trust vault"

"My father always says that Dumbledore is a meddling old fool who needs to learn to keep his freakishly long nose OUT of other people's business." Draco said darkly

"You're all done dears" Madame Malkin said

Draco and Harry returned to the main room where Dante was waiting for them

"Draco, this is my guardian, Dante Vale. Dante this is my new friend, Draco Malfoy." Harry greeted him

"Nice to meet you" Dante said politely

"And you as well sir, pardon my asking but are you foreign?" Draco said the reason Draco asked was because Dante's accent did not sound like it came from anywhere in Britain

"Yes, I'm Italian" Dante answered

Before either of them could speak again an elegant blonde woman approached them

"Mother" Draco said "I'd like you to meet my new friend Harry Potter and his Italian guardian Dante Vale."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Mrs. Malfoy said "My name is Narcissa Malfoy. You're named after the author Dante Alighieri aren't you?"

"Yes, my grandmother swore up and down that he was one of my family's ancestors but she said that about virtually anybody who was anybody in Italian history, including virtually every Roman Emperor that ever lived, the Medici family and even Mussolini so I am bit skeptical."

"Wasn't Dante Alighieri a muggle?" Harry asked considering the content of Inferno

"Actually, he was a squib but he was also a gifted writer." Narcissa answered

"A what?" Harry asked automatically

"A squib, a child born of wizarding parents but not a witch or wizard themselves, I had heard you were living with muggles but your magical guardian should have visited you and taught you about our customs." Narcissa said

"Mother, can Harry and Dante come with us to buy school supplies?" Draco asked

"Of course" Narcissa answered "the more the merrier.

They started heading toward Flourish and Blots

"Shouldn't we be going to Ollivander's first since its right across the street?" Harry asked

"No Harry, wands are traditionally saved for last."Narcissa replied

That seemed rather pointless to Harry but he decided to just along with it.

They headed to the book store and got their books. Harry also grabbed several other books on wizarding history and culture.

"That's a good start but they will only get you so far, a lot of our culture isn't in the books. I'll help you there." Draco offered

"Thanks Draco and I will answer any questions you have about the muggle world" Harry agreed

After getting his books, Harry began heading to the counter when Narcissa stopped him

"Harry, you'll need quills and ink bottles too."

"Why would I need those?" Harry asked

"Well, how else do you intend to write your notes?" Narcissa asked

Harry shrugged and said "I figured I'd just bring a few pens."

"Pens?" Draco asked

Dante pulled a pen out of his pocket and said "He means like these. The ink is stored inside of the pen, so all you have to is push the bottom at the top and straight writing and then when you're done all you have to do is press the button again."

"Muggle devices don't work around Hogwarts" Narcissa said "there's too much magic in the air for all of those eclectic things to function."

Dante and Harry exchanged puzzled looks, Seekers could and frequently did integrate their magic with mundane technology, that's essentially what the holo-tome was, a computer that ran on magic. So they did not understand why wizards couldn't do the same with their magic.

"I think you mean electric and pens don't run on electricity so they should work fine." Harry said "but I suppose I better grab a few quills and ink bottles just in case."

"I didn't expect you to be just like a mudblood" Draco snarled

"Draco!" Narcissa scolded but Draco ignored her and continued

"You all come into our world with NO respect for our customs or our way of life and expecting us all to conform to your narrow-minded views. You are DESTORYING our world, thanks to your kind, Samhain has been turned into a laughing stock called Halloween, and Yule is a pale shadow of its former self. While magical beings are ostracized and shunned simply because they aren't human!"

By now the (thankfully) people who were in the bookstore were staring

"When is it going to be enough?! When?!"

Dante came forward and put a soothing hand on Draco's shoulder

"Draco, I don't pretend to fully understand what you're talking about but I want you to understand something, a culture is made of the people within it. As long as wizards exist, your culture will continue to exist but culture is not static it changes as the people change. Harry was simply suggesting that it might be better to use pens rather than quills because with pens you don't have to worry about spilled ink bottles or leaving blots on the page because the quill dripped, he wasn't trying to attack your culture, he was simply saying that the prefers pens-"

"Yeah, Draco. If you want to use a quill, that's fine, I have no problem with that."

Draco sighed; in spite of himself he could see the logic of Harry's preference

"I'm sorry I over reacted Harry, it's just so many of our traditions and magic has been lost already. I can't stand the idea of more being lost. You'll understand more once you've read the history books you bought. Can we still be friends?" Draco said

"Apology accepted Draco. Just next time try not to jump to conclusions so rapidly, okay?"

Draco nodded

Now that was over, they headed toward the apothecary. While on the way there, they passed by the Magical Menagerie.

"You don't have an owl do you?" Draco asked Harry

"No, I don't have any pets" Harry answered. His disappointment was apparent in his voice. Dante had never allowed him to get a pet. Pets needed to have their people around and they didn't like to travel. Dante and Harry traveled A LOT, during the summer they spend little if any time actually AT Dante's house in Venice. According to Dante, a pet wouldn't be happy in their house so they shouldn't get one.

Harry could see the logic in Dante's argument but the selfish part of him still wanted a pet.

"You really should get an owl. They're very useful; carry your mail and everything" Draco urged

"Doesn't the wizarding world have post offices?" Dante asked

"Yes, we do" Narcissa said "however, they charge a lot, it's cheaper to have your own owl."

Harry immediately turned to Dante "Can I get one, please Dante?"

"Harry…you know why that's a bad idea. We aren't home often; I doubt an owl would be happy in our house."

"Why not just take the owl with you?" Narcissa asked

"Owls are rare in the muggle world, it would draw attention." Dante said "Plus I don't think the owl would like traveling."

"Maybe in the muggle world but magical owls are different." Narcissa said "magical owls are trained to find people by their magical signature. So all you have to do is let your owl out to hunt and it will find you once you've arrived at where you are going. That's what we do with our owls when we go somewhere, they hate the floo."

'Me too' both Harry and Dante thought

Dante considered what Narcissa said and looked at the hopeful look on his adopted son's face. Although Harry had chosen to keep the Potter name, he was legally Dante's son in the muggle world, maybe not the magical one, but definitely in Dante's heart.

"All right" Dante relented "you can get an owl"

"YES!" Harry cheered

"BUT" Dante began loudly "it's your responsibility to take care of it. You have to feed it, keep the cage clean etc. If you don't, I'm bringing the owl back, understood?" Dante didn't actually think that would be an issue with Harry, but if he hadn't given the small speech, he would have been remiss in his duties as a parent and he couldn't do that.

"Of course, Dante. I'll take good care of it, you can count on me." Harry promised

Dante nodded and the quartet went into the menagerie. As soon as they walked in, a beautiful snowy owl flew over to Harry and settled herself on his right shoulder. Harry immediately reached over with his other arm and began petting her

"Remarkable" the man at the counter said "That owl has never taken a shine to anyone before…you don't happen to be looking for an owl do you?"

Dante quickly realized that the man wanted to get rid of the owl; he looked over at Harry who was still stroking the owl and suspected that the man would be getting his wish.

"Is that the one you want?" Dante asked even though he was certain that he knew the answer

"Yeah, she's perfect" Harry said

Dante turned to the man at the counter and said "we'll take her."

"Excellent, would you like one of our owl starter kits?" the store clerk asked

"Owl starter kits?" Harry repeated

"They're a special deal we run for first-time owl owners. Along with the owl, you get a cage, a perch, some owl treats, and a water dish. It's recommended that you let your owl out at night to hunt for herself in your bird's case but if you can't or don't want to, we do sell owl food as well."

"The starter kits sound good thanks." Harry said

After having bought the owl, they made a quick stop at the Apothecary; Harry was glad that they didn't linger, all the stuff floating in jars creped him out a little

Then they FINALLY went to Ollivander's wand shop, this was what Harry had been most looking forward to.

When Harry entered the shop he felt a strange tingly sensation. He knew what it was; he was feeling the magic in this place.

"I thought I would be seeing you soon Misters Malfoy and Potter. Ah, Mrs. Malfoy 10 ½ inches, unicorn hair and mahogany isn't it?

"Correct as always Mr. Ollivander" Narcissa said politely and then Ollivander turned to Dante and for the first time in a long while he was puzzled. Ollivander had been born with their rare ability to sense magic signatures; because of it he always knew who was in his shop even before he saw them. He could also sense the difference between wizards, werewolves etc. however Dante's signature felt unlike anything he had ever felt before. Ollivander believed he had encountered at least one of all the magical beings over his long life, goblins, house-elves, werewolves even vampires but Dante did not seem to be any of them and yet he had a magic signature and therefore he was not a muggle and his signature was too strong to be a squib, how very curious.

Harry's signature was also strange. His was a hybrid signature, that by itself wasn't all that strange hybrids were not unheard of, in ancient times mating with a magical creature was considered a high honor as a result the vast majority of the so-called purebloods were actually not even pure-human much less pure wizard. Harry's signature felt like part wizard and part….whatever Dante was. Anyway, he had a job to do, time to focus. While he had been musing, his enchanted measuring tape

"All right now boys, which is your wand arm?" he asked

"Left" Draco answered immediately

"I'm right handed" Harry said a split second later

"We'll start with Mr. Malfoy" Ollivander said as he walked over to Draco who obligingly held out his left arm so Ollivander could measure it. "Now let's see if we can find you the right wand"

"Huh?" Harry asked "why does it matter, won't any wand do?"

Ollivander nearly stumbled over "It matters a great deal Mister Potter. A wizard's wand becomes a part of themselves and more importantly, the wand chooses the wizard. If a wand and a wizard are not compatible it hinders the flow of magic that means you will never get as good results with another wizard's wand as with your own."

"Oh, I see" Harry said, realizing he had underestimated the importance of wands. Meanwhile Ollivander went over to a nearby shelf, pulled one wand off it and said

"Now Mister Malfoy, both your parents have Mahogany wands, so try this one." He handed the wand to him. "Eleven inches, Mahogany and Dragon Heartstring."

As soon as Draco raised the wand green sparks shot of it.

"Well, it seems we have a match." Ollivander said surprised, it was very rare that he matched a wizard with a wand on the first try. He was also a little disappointed, he loved watching wizards experiment with different wands until they find the right one, hopefully Harry would be more of a challenge.

"Now Mister Potter, you have your mother's eyes." Ollivander sighed "It seems like just yesterday she was here buying her first wand 10 and ¼ inches with a unicorn hair core, a very nice wand for charm work, your father on the other hand Mahogany wand eleven inches with dragon heartstring for a core, excellent for transfiguration. Now let's see what kind of wand we can get for you."

"Hmm, Willow with dragon heartstring, give it a try."

Harry took it and waved it toward the front window. The window shattered, Harry hastily dropped it and Ollivander said "Definitely not that one."

Harry tried another and another and another, working up a rather impressive pile of tired and failed wands until Ollivander fetched one from the back room and handed it to Harry

When Harry waved multi-colored sparks shot out of it, the sparks reminded Harry of fireworks. He'd only seen them once, they happened to be in the US on a mission during the fourth of July and Americans habitually celebrated their independence day with fireworks and they had decided that they might as well watch.

"Curious, very curious" Ollivander muttered

"Why, Mister Ollivander?" Harry asked

Ollivander sighed "I remember every wand that I ever sold Mister Potter, your wand which is eleven inches, made of Holly with a phoenix feather core has a brother-"

"How can I wand have a brother?" Harry asked

"It means that they have cores from the same animal, in this case a phoenix tail feather, this particular phoenix gave just two feathers. One now resides in your wand and the other in the wand that gave you that scar."

Everyone's eyes widened

"I am sorry to say that I sold the wand that did it" Ollivander continued "Yew 13 inches, a powerful wand and in the wrong hands…I think we can expect to see great things from you Mister Potter."

Harry wasn't sure he liked that

"Harry, you will want to get some polish too" Narcissa told him

"Why?" Harry asked

"Because polishing your wand regularly helps make sure it stays in good working order." Ollivander explained

"Okay, do you sell that here, Mister Ollivander?" Harry asked

"Of course, I'll go fetch some from the back." Ollivander said

Once they had paid for their things, it was time for the Malfoys to go home.

"I'll write you soon Harry" Draco promised

"I'll be waiting" Harry said

Once they were gone, Harry turned to Dante and asked "are we going back to Venice now?"

Dante shook his head "No, I think we should stay here and try to learn about this new world you're in; we also need to call the Foundation and tell them what's going on. We'll do that once we've found a place to stay."


End file.
